After "coincidentally" going to every one of Fina's classes, it turns out I was pretty good at them. I got to meet the big muscular magic combat teacher who was pretty impressed with how I used my magic.
"That's incredible sir Alt! Your mastery of magic combat is fluent and without much breaks! You must have gotten it from first hand experience!" [Mr. Urth]
"Uh… yeah." [Solace]
Him talking about my combat experiences made me think about my three month journey. Fighting a goblin king, a golem, a giant spider, Vanport, and then there was Jukhan. Dear gods, that was a terrible experience.
"Have you considered trying out for the heroes party? I can assure you with your talents that you might make it!" [Mr. Urth]
"...Heroes party?" [Solace]
"Indeed! Our country's hero is currently looking for new party members so a competition will be held in a few months. Do you want to sign up?" [Mr. Urth]
Embarrassing as it may be, I did think about it. However, I was Fina's spirit.
"I'll have to refuse." [Solace]
"Oh." [Mr. Urth]
He looked a bit disappointed by my decision.
"Are you sure? Chances like these happen only once in a lifetime. It would bring great honor and fame to your name!" [Mr. Urth]
("Wow, he's really pushing it.") [Solace]
It pained me to turn down the offer considering how badly Mr. Urth wanted me to join, but I still refused anyway.
"Sorry. Entering the hero's party doesn't interest me." [Solace]
"I… I see. That's too bad then." [Mr. Urth]
Mr. Urth then walked away with a downcast expression.
("Man… Now I feel bad.") [Solace]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The next class was something I wasn't looking forward to. I had to take the class of noble etiquette, by Ms. Wendle. You know, the teacher whose voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard and was the raspiest thing I've ever heard.
"We welcome you to our class sir Alt. For now, you may just sit aside and watch." [Ms. Wendle]
"Yes, ma'am." [Solace]
She shook her head.
"Reply with "Yes, my lady". Or, "Of course, madam Wendle". Remember that next time will you?" [Ms. Wendle]
It was that exchange that made me quickly realize I wasn't going to like this class.
"Let's begin class." [Ms. Wendle]
It was a pretty boring lesson so I'll just skip this part.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The next class was Magic Theory taught by Ms. Grotto. A portion was taught by Ms. Ross, but I guess it was more hardcore in this one.
"Alt, let me know if you need to borrow my notes." [Fina]
Just like the other classes, I chose a seat near Fina.
"Don't worry. I'm sure I can get by without needing to bother you too much." [Solace]
I in fact proceeded to borrow her notes multiple times throughout the lesson. It felt like I was dealing with math formulas, except it was in a language format. My… My head… I don't even want to remember it.
"And that will be all for today. Memorize the formula for pages 13, 72, and 138 by next week. Ah, but you will be excluded for now sir Alt." [Ms. Grotto]
"Thank you Ms. Grotto." [Solace]
I really needed that.
For now, that was the end of the classes for the day. I then needed to find my "dorms" which weren't included since all I would do was turn a corner and return to Fina's side in spirit form.
("Maybe I should ask Master for a dorm in case Fina wants to come find me or something. It'll probably work as a dummy room.") [Solace]
As I turned into a spirit and followed Fina in my invisible form, I found Fina trying to swerve around a large crowd.
"Is that really him?!" [???]
"Please look over here!" [???]
It appeared that everyone was pretty excited. I was a bit curious so I flew high and saw four people surrounded. Two males and two females. If I had to put it in fantasy terms, I would have to say it looked like one priest, one mage, one tank, and one warrior. A well balanced team.
("Well, not my problem.") [Solace]
It suddenly became my problem. The four of them leapt over the crowd and landed in front of Fina, which caused her to get engulfed by the swarm of people as they chased after the group.
("Fina!") [Solace]
Without thinking, I returned to human form and pulled her out of it. It was a bit difficult to be within such a large group of people so I pulled her close and turned my back towards the onrushing mob.
"Alt?!" [Fina]
She had a confused look on her face. It must have been surprising since I split apart from her saying that I was going to go back to my dorm.
"I… forgot I had some stuff to do and got curious when I saw the crowd. I didn't think I'd find you here." [Solace]
I had to take a few hits before everyone was gone. Thankfully I had |Temperance| so it really didn't hurt.
"There we go. Are you okay, Fina?" [Solace]
I asked her for assurance, but all I got was no reply with her staring at me with a red face.
"Um… is there something wrong?" [Solace]
It was as if she suddenly rebooted by blinking because Fina quickly withdrew from me.
"I-I'm fine! I'll um… see you later!" [Fina]
Using those as her parting words, she kind of just jogged away.
("...Do I smell?") [Solace]